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Lesson Highlight: "followers of God" – Ephesians 5:1
In the "Biblical Perspective" for this week's lesson, Dr. Marsh Jones writes:
To be a follower of God means to imitate Him in His moral and ethical attributes. This is not follower in the sense of having an interest in a particular person or party, rather it is follower in its most intense meaning — one who sincerely seeks to take on the traits of the one to whom he has joined himself.
Discussion: Having followers or being a follower is a common term today. How is its use similar or different from the biblical meaning?
Source: Galatians and Ephesians, Adult Teacher's Insights, page 75.
Uprightness Brings Light
Read Psalm 112:1-10
“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous” (v. 4).
The Hebrew word for “ariseth” is commonly used for the sunrise (Ps. 97:11; Isa. 58:8). The morning light is one of the most welcome sights known to man. The night may have been long and dark — no stars or moon — but the darkness will be conquered. The sun will rise to push away the oppression of the nocturnal black.
Life can bring its own night. The effects of sin and the foibles of fallen humanity may leave the righteous groping for direction, stumbling and struggling without any immediate sense of the Son. But light will dawn anew. The psalmist declares that, for the upright in heart, the darkest night will have a dawn of hope. Dr. Thomas Chalmers, facing the Scottish Reformation of 1843, cited these words to his beleaguered hearers: “Never was the truth — a word spoken in season — more vividly realized . . . a strong expression of conscious comfort and encouragement . . . called forth.” The sun will shine again for the righteous. The night will not be forever for the children of the Son. (WES)
The righteous will have their dark times. They shall receive comfort.
Their own character will secure this [light]. — Charles Spurgeon
Live righteously in the dark and the Son of Righteousness will come in a sunrise of hope.
This devotional is the Monday, August 24. 2015 entry of Opening the Word.
Walk as Children of Light
Lesson 13 - August 29
Focus Text: Ephesians 5:1-4, 8-21
Central Truth: Christians must pattern their lives after Christ’s example.
Objective: By the end of this lesson my students should be able to describe practical ways that we are to imitate Christ’s example.
Lesson Outline:
- Walk in Love (Ephesians 5:1-4)
- Walk in Light (Ephesians 5:8-14)
- Walk in Wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-21)
Lesson Highlight: "be ye kind" – Ephesians 4:32
"And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)
Dr. Marsh Jones writes in "Biblical Perspective" for this week's lesson:
Kindness, generosity, and compassion are all traits that a Christian constantly displays. Christ has given us an example of this in His behavior toward those to whom He ministered and those who were His detractors: “When he was reviled, [he] reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not” (1 Peter 2:23). The apostle also reminded us that when we feel unwilling to forgive someone who has wronged us, we should remember that Christ has forgiven us for the stupid and sinful things that we have done in the past. We should therefore forgive those who are only acting as we might have acted were it not for the grace of God!
Discussion: Why do we have difficulty being kind to anyone when we will not forgive a particular someone(s)?
Source: Galatians and Ephesians, Adult Teacher's Insights, page 72.
Lesson Highlight: "put on" – Ephesians 4:24
"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4:24)
In "Word Focus" for this week's lesson, William Sillings writes:
(1) Put off (apothesthai) means “to remove as one takes off clothes.” The verb is an aorist middle infinitive which indicates three things: (a) this is something we must do for ourselves, an action only we can carry out; (b) it is to be a once-and-for-all kind of action, “put off that old life once and for all, and never go back to it”; and (c) the infinitive form is used to denote the substance of what they had been taught, that which they were to put away, the old life with its old ways of thinking and acting.
(2) Put on (endusasthai) contrasts with the putting off. This word is often used of putting on a garment and is the positive side of verse 22.
Discussion: With this explanation in mind, what does it mean to put off the "old man" and to put on the "new man"?
Source: Galatians and Ephesians, Adult Teacher's Insights, page 68.
Lesson Highlight: Ephesians 4:20
"But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4:20-24)
The comments in "Biblical Perspectives" notes that verses twenty-one through twenty-four show the contrast in beliefs and lifestyle of the Christian and the unbeliever.
Exercise: List the various contrasts, putting them in your own words to make the meaning clearer.